Dandelions are the first nectar source for bees (around here anyhow). They also offer pollen but we have plenty of trees that have been blooming quite awhile by then for their pollen source. Dandelions get hit pretty hard as soon as they come up.

That said, I see far far far more dandelions in the ditches than in yards anyhow. Most people pluck them out of their yards or spray them so I kind of see this program as feel good propaganda. Now if you were going to leave that yard an entire summer, maybe different.

People forget, or don't know, that bees get a lot more resources out of the local trees than they do flower beds. Some trees provide tons and tons of pollen and nectar. If they are hitting your yard they are just trying to keep busy between blooms.

I need to convince my neighbors not to mow till June , that way I didn't look bad , I hate mowing so I put it off as long as I can

also my lawn is about 1/2 clover in the summer I mow half one week half the next if I can

good to keep those bees around for the garden

The link below discusses and denotes the data from the city of Appleton where this research study was conducted.

Bryce

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7518183/

I got no mow May through September for most of my place. Then I run over it with the bush hog and am done for the year

still getting snow so i'm all for it

Awesome

I always figure frost will get it come October and lay it down.

And how many use herbicides to eradicate those "weeds"?

No mow is a step in the right direction.
A better step would be eliminated lawns alltogether.

2 facts.
There 40 million acres of lawn in the US.
Grass is the most irrigated "crop" in the USA.

What a waste of land and resources.

I'll leave a picture of a better solution, my yard.





As people who are supposedly concerned about the outdoors and wildlife I ask you, which is better for wildlife a lawn like mine or a manicured lawn that is sprayed with fertilizers and herbicides?

We got a letter telling us to power wash the driveway and sidewalks!

I like your style.

Our bees were flying a bit today. We have been feeding them all spring to keep them alive. Hope it stays warm. Went into winter with 7 strong hives . Now down to two. Have a couple of new queens bought for mid May, hope to split them out. Interesting bugs. old 243

I like your lawn Dirty D. Around here I might have a challenge keeping Wild Parsnip out of that though.

Sniper your correct. Early flowering is very important for bees. There hive stores are running very low in early spring and fruit trees are very early flowering.

Yea but little hard for the grand babies to play soccer or baseball In that mess. Plus tick fever wrote all over that . No way a persons (Yard) should look like that . Now the field out behind the house yes. THAT yard is someone too lazy to mow.
Heck How do you find your house? I can't see it from the WEEDS .... where do you park? Only yards around here that look like that are meth heads and cat ladies........ NO NOT CALLING YOU EITHER !! Just stating the facts.

I'll bet the grand babies would love a walk thru the flowers, see all the butterflies, bees, birds and it would be a great teachable moment on the value of nature and its magnificence.
I'll bet the grand babies would rather watch the prescribed burns than play baseball.

No ticks in there, I get more ticks in the woods, maybe 1-2 a year is it. Do some research into the effects of prescribed burns on tick populations.

I'm sure your not serious about mowing that yard, or finding my house or parking.
No meth heads or cats around here.

Its sad when some is so blind that they can not see.

were you lost in a field one time and now the sight of anything other than a mowed law scares you?
Or did you fall down and cut yourself on blade of grass once?

Wondering why you can't see the advantage of a yard that is beneficial to nature rather than one that is mowed, and sprayed with chemicals.

Once the native stuff that you see in the picture gets going the vast majority of invasives can't get a foothold in it.
That and prescribed burns also keep them at bay.

My house sits in about 3 acres of field like the picture. There is a small boarder of mowed grass about 20 ft around the house. That was a concession to my wife. If it was up to me there would be no mowed grass area.
Its not work free. I watch for and keep after invasives.
I pull sweet clovers, cut and spot treat other invasives with a couple of drops of herbicides on the cut stems. Very targeted and no damage to plants growing right next to them.
It gets easier every year as they are getting less and less.

No wild parsnip here.

What a nut job, but I think it is explainable.

I've got a theory about landscaping fanatics. It begins;
Genesis 1:28 "God blessed them (mankind) and said to them, be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it...."

I've noticed that urban folks, and especially those folks from the UK are extremely driven to control their environment and subdue their yards, etc..
I think this is a manifestation of the command we see in Genesis. Hunter gatherer people don't seek dominion and control over their yards, they manifest that command by hunting, trapping, fishing, etc..

I think those bunny hugging Brits, and other like them, are actually compelled by that God given desire to have control over their environment, that desire is expressed by the only means that many of them have; lawns, vegetable gardens, and window planter boxes.

In the case of my neighbor, he has no kids and his wife is a real shrew. If she sees him sitting idle she'll make him do stuff.

So he avoids her.

He leaves the house at 4:00 each morning to have breakfast at the local diner then heads to work. When he's not mowing or weed-whacking or driving his tractor around the hay field pretending to mow it he's in his garage tinkering around and he's in bed by 7:30 every night.

It keeps the shrew off his back I guess